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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The committee’s long history and dizzying array of issues, from the banking system to housing and insurance, has resulted in an information-rich timeline that includes video.

Caleb Smith, director of new media for the Committee on Financial Services, shared exclusively with us he approach used to launch timeline.

When did you launch the committee’s Facebook timeline and how long did it take to create?

The new Facebook timeline for the House Committee on Financial Services went public at noon Eastern Time on Monday, March 26. All Facebook pages will automatically transition to the timeline format on March 30, so we wanted to be just ahead of those changes.

It took about two weeks to get everything prepared, from designing the cover photo and producing an introd video to filling out an overview of the committee’s extensive legislative history.

What do you hope to accomplish with the committee’s timeline?

Timeline offers an opportunity to tell our committee’s rich history in a simple, visually compelling way. But timeline is not just about the past. It’s also about the present.

It gives the committee the opportunity to keep followers informed with the most up-to-date information on the economic and financial issues that affect them most, while also providing those same followers an outlet to ask questions and have their voices heard on the things they care about.

You used a video to walk Facebook users through your timeline. How did that come about?

In studying our analytics from past Facebook activity, we’ve consistently seen high levels of engagement from our followers when we present information in a more interactive way — like video, infographics and polls.

We expect the timeline format to enhance that experience even further, so rather than merely telling our followers that we were launching a redesign, we decided to show them all the new ways they can get involved. What better way to do that than with a short, step-by-step video to walk them through all the new changes?

The committee works with numbers and data. How do you plan to keep the timeline visually interesting?

The Financial Services Committee has jurisdiction over the banking system, housing, insurance, and securities and exchanges. But the reality is that these are issues that, ultimately, affect every family in America.

Facebook provides a platform where we can communicate the fundamentals in a way that is both relevant and easy to understand. Our followers can expect to see a diverse array of content from our page, from pictures and videos, to polls, infographics and news articles.

The committee’s Facebook timeline has an extensive list of milestones, dating back to 1865. How did you decide what to include?

We wanted to give folks a complete picture of the committee’s history, without getting bogged down in legal jargon or obscurities.

What resulted was a comprehensive overview of some of the major legislative achievements deriving from the Financial Services Committee, and that is the same standard we’ll use as we highlight future milestones.

How do you plan on using timeline to explain major initiatives, such as the JOBS Act, in the future?

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act was a bipartisan package designed to help small businesses and entrepreneurs grow, hire, and create jobs, and it was comprised of six bills that originated in the Financial Services Committee.

We used Facebook posts to explain what the JOBS Act was all about as it was going through committee, and once it passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming support, we released a video reel highlighting the bipartisan nature of the bill.

Now, it’s already identified as a legislative milestone on our timeline. We’ll continue to use Facebook as a way to educate the public about the legislative process and commons ense policies that have an impact on Main Street, not just Wall Street.

Who did you work with to create the committee’s timeline?

It was a coordinated team effort in identifying the key milestones included on our timeline. As a rule, we erred on the side of providing more information rather than less. The staff at Facebook was also very helpful whenever we ran into bugs during testing.

Did you look at other congressional committees’ Facebook timelines when determining your approach?

Absolutely. In the few short weeks since timeline has been available to pages, there have already been a lot of creative uses of its many features. In planning our own redesign, we first took cues from others who were doing it right, both on and off Capitol Hill.

What’s your favorite timeline feature?

It is really great that people have a one-stop shop to learn about the committee’s nearly 150-year history, but we are equally as excited that it is now easier than ever to keep up with our day-to-day work.

With the new, front-and-center app row just below the cover photo, visitors can quickly connect with us on Twitter, watch one of our latest videos on YouTube, or check out the upcoming hearing schedule, all without ever leaving Facebook.

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That was the challenge for Jim Billimoria, communications director for the powerful U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. It was one of the first of three committees to launch timeline shortly after the Facebook feature for pages became available.

Billimoria told us in an email interview that he and his team are stepping up to this challenge with charts, graphs, video and images that explain a lot of different types of data.

What was your strategy when making the move to timeline?

The Ways and Means Committee is the oldest committee in Congress dating back over 200 years. We wanted to accomplish a few things with the timeline rollout to bring fans closer to the committee — show the committee’s rich history and bring our fans behind the scenes a bit to demystify what this committee does.

One of the main goals was to make our data visually appealing to those stopping on the page to engage our fans and start a conversation.

By studying our page’s analytics we were able to determine what type of material draws the most response – - photos, graphics, charts — and we’ll continue to incorporate more going forward with timeline.

How many people manage the committee’s Facebook page?

Two staffers handle the committee’s Facebook page and organized the transition. Chairman Dave Camp (a Republican from Michigan) has always been open to trying new ways to connect with Facebook fans and will be engaging more with fans over the next few months.

As a committee that deals in facts and data, how do you plan on making the most out of timeline’s visual appeal?

The ability to highlight and pin elements on timeline can show the everyday work the committee does on the economy and jobs. We’ll also use tabs more for major policy initiatives moving forward to make our Facebook page a site that can bring the entire debate to people in innovative ways beyond the standard press release or email.

Member pages can tell a life story; your page represents a group of individuals. How do you use timeline to tell the committees’ story?

The Ways and Means Committee dates back to 1789, and its membership includes eight former presidents, four former Supreme Court Justices, and twenty-one former Speakers of the House.

In addition to its distinguished membership, the committee has been at the forefront of major policy decisions — from free trade agreements to the creation of Medicare, social security, tax reform in 1986 and welfare reform in 1996, just to name a few.

We’ll show these accomplishments with behind the scenes photos to create the visual story for our fans to see. While different than a member’s page, the challenge lies in the opportunity – - what do we highlight, what will Facebook fans find interesting, those are issues we welcome and will be finding out as time goes on.

How do you plan on using timeline in the future?

Chairman Camp and the committee members will take questions from Facebook users and respond to fan questions via video again this year as they did when the free trade agreements were being debated last year.

It allowed for multiple interactions from fans, allowing them to become an integral part of our Facebook page, letting them know we were listening and will answer their questions.

Another idea we’re working on right now is livestreaming committee hearings and having users ask questions on Facebook in real-time and selecting some of those questions to be asked during the actual hearing.

What’s your favorite timeline feature?

Being able to pin a post to have it be the first thing users see is a great new feature. As major policy debates develop we’ll be able to draw attention to the items we feel are important in the debate with this feature and not let the information get drowned out by other items we post.

Also, policies take a while to see their way through Congress. Being able to show this process and how much work goes into it will bring fans closer to their representatives.

What advice would you give to other congressional committees?

Plan ahead, have a sense of what you want to use timeline for and how these new features can be leveraged to connect with fans.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.